White House sends Congress expanded war funding request

22 October 2007

by Jim Mannion

WASHINGTON (AFP) -President George W. Bush asked Congress Monday to approve 196.4 billion dollars to fund the growing costs of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008, officials said.

The request adds 42.3 billion dollars to the administration's original 141.7 billion dollar estimate of its 2008 war costs.

It also includes 5.3 billion dollars that had been previously approved for mine-resistant armored vehicles known as MRAPs, and 3.6 billion dollars for the State Department.

"Every member of Congress who wants to see both success in Iraq and our troops begin to come home should strongly support this bill," Bush said.

"I know some in Congress are against the war and are seeking ways to demonstrate that opposition," he said. "But they ought to make sure our troops have what it takes to succeed."

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the case for the additional war funding in congressional testimony on September 26, but Monday's action marks the formal request with the documentation to justify it.

If approved, the 2008 request will push US war costs since 2001 to 757.4 billion dollars.

A senior defense official said the Pentagon is spending 10.7 billion a month on average on the war on terrorism overall, 9.2 billion dollars a month of it on Iraq.

Pentagon officials said the additional funding includes 6.3 billion dollars to pay for the cost of maintaining larger numbers of troops in Iraq but also reflected plans to bring home five combat brigades by July.

Other big ticket items include 14.2 billion dollars for "force protection" and efforts to counter improvised explosive devices, the biggest killer of US troops in Iraq.

The bulk of that -- 11 billion dollars -- will go to buy another 7,274 mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles, which will increase the total fielded in 2008 to 15,274.

Gates has made acquisition of the MRAPs a priority since learning that no one has been killed by a mine explosion in one.

The 2008 request would increase the amount set aside for training and equipping the Iraqi security forces by a billion dollars to three billion dollars.

Another billion dollars was added for military construction "consolidating US facilities in Iraq."

A billion dollars was earmarked for military intelligence, which will be used to buy 24 additional unmanned Predator aircraft and for a variety of intelligence gathering teams.

An 8.8 billion dollar chunk of the funding request would go to replace, replenish or repair equipment ground down or destroyed in combat.

These include five EA-18 electronic warfare planes and an F-18 fighter, 383 Stryker combat vehicles, over 4,100 Humvees, over 11,000 trucks, and over 72,000 radios, a senior defense official said.

Another 6.4 billion dollars will go for equipment needed to to improve the readiness of forces that are about to deploy, fill other equipment shortfalls and pay for pre-deployment training of national guard and reserve units.

Care of wounded soldiers and support for their families, accelerated hospital construction account for 1.7 billion dollars of the request.

The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are funded separately from the base defense budget. The administration's 2008 budget request for 481.4 billion dollars is still pending.

Pentagon officials appealed for quick action on the request by Congress.

"Clearly if they did not act we're going to be in a very difficult position in terms of cash flowing," said a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"If they were to just pass our base legislation, we would begin to have problems very early in the year, particularly with the operating accounts for the army."